Kline
Swonger
Bio
Kline Swonger
Kline Swonger is an interdisciplinary artist and environmental designer who creates sculpture and installations. Originally from Los Angeles, she received a double major Bachelor of Arts in Art and Environmental Studies from Pitzer College and a degree in Landscape Architecture. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Art with an emphasis in sculpture from San Diego State University School of Art and Design. Her practice and research primarily involves installation, sculpture, and community-engaged public art, in which concepts of place, psychology of space, and perception are explored. Light, shadow, and materials representative of both urban and natural landscapes are incorporated into her art, allowing for moments of reflection and pause. Using methodologies of play, Swonger blurs the boundaries between disciplines, inviting a transdisciplinary approach to thinking, making, and collaborative work in her practice. Through her work she explores the relationship formed when the boundary between internal and external landscapes dissolve, and the consequence of separation or fragmentation.
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Her most recent artist-in-residencies completed were at Art Produce Gallery and Sepehri Gallery. Her work has been exhibited along the west coast, and her local public art has been installed within the San Diego International Airport, City of San Diego, City of El Cajon, and City of National City. Her work is part of the City of San Diego and SDSU’s permanent collections.
Crossing
The Line
This sculptural installation was inspired by personal memories of home, barriers, and the space between things physical and intangible. The shadow form is as important as the hand quilted steel sculpture. Cast shadows on the wall are sewn with fabric and thread and inlaid plaster teeth and buttons can be discovered by the viewer upon closer inspection.
The Piece
Sheet steel, fabric, thread, buttons, and plaster teeth.
18' x 20' x 11' - 2019
Artist's Statement
Throughout our lives, we encounter space that is draped in layers of past events and personal experiences. I believe space is experienced as place when one becomes aware of the emotions, memories, and occurrences within that space. We create intimate psychological and physical bonds with our surroundings and I am interested in the subconscious influences of place and transitionary spaces. I imagine place as residing simultaneously in both physical and emotional landscapes, and the moments experienced in-between offering new perspective and opportunity for discovery. My work investigates place through personal experience within the in-between.
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As a sculptor, my process develops intuitively through material investigations and unearthing personal memories. The work begins by collecting materials and found objects which shift my perspective and evoke emotions from which I then work. Concepts of liminality, loss, place, perception, and ritual are explored through materials and research. Numerous small objects are made which inform the larger sculptures. The finished pieces are an amalgamation of fragmented parts. Materials are transformed into organic forms and simplified structures to capture emotions felt from life experiences and beauty from natural phenomena.
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Spatial boundaries, abstraction, subtle shifts in light and details, and manipulated materials which engage the senses are formally integrated into the works. Through the use of shadow and light with a limited color palette, a feeling of absence and reflection in both the literal and metaphorical sense is evoked. The tangible objects project shadows, drawing attention to the surrounding architecture and area between the intangible elements and the physical constructions.
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The intention of the work is to elicit an emotive response. Through aesthetically quiet sculpture installations, space for reflection is created. The viewer is invited to explore their own thresholds of perception, noticing their engagement with the world through their senses.